What's Wrong With Being Normal?
by Taurus Versant
Summary: Without a head for design himself, Ojiro goes to his fellow classmates for advice on how to escape the trappings of 'normal'.


'Normal'...

The word had been bugging Ojiro Mashirao since it came out of the girls' mouths, surveying his room in their grand dorm inspection. No, honestly, it went back further than that. Way back further. He frowned.

He liked simplicity. Things like that were easy to judge and appraise, no confusion or stress. What was wrong with that? But even still, having heard their words, it had left a sour taste in his mouth. He didn't want to be 'normal', he just wanted to be himself. But apparently his room right now didn't say that. And he had no idea how to change.

Luckily, at least, he was not alone. There were other people he could go to for advice. And right now, sitting around the table he was at, three of them were doing their best. He was thankful for that already.

"No, no, no," Iida was tapping the desk, looking over the notes, "a disco ball wouldn't suit at all, this is ridiculous."

"It's ~perfect~," Aoyama stressed in reply, "Can you not see how it ~dazzles~ the soul? Anyone who witnesses it will see the ~magnificence~ of its owner in an instant. I can think of nothing better."

Ojiro reached forward and picked up one of the notes they'd written down. This one was good. "I like the training weights." Iida and Kirishima both nodded emphatically in agreement, clearly pleased with that choice. A trio, two for his hands and one for his tail, would be perfect. A showcase of his dedication to improvement and a reference to his Quirk. What could be better? Aoyama had nothing to say due to the lack of flair involved.

It could be considered a weird trio, those three, but Ojiro had been fully convinced of how perfect they would work together. Iida and Kirishima were the brains and heart respectively, while Aoyama – once appropriately reigned in by the others – did lend a certain spark of creativity. He just wasn't allowed to run wild as he had so obviously done with his own room. Ojiro wasn't even sure he'd be able to last a minute in there without being blinded. He didn't know how his fellow student managed.

"The sign's out," he flipped another of the little notes over, rejecting it from the pool of ideas. Silence descended upon the table as all three stared at him in absolute disbelief.

"HOW COULD YOU?" Iida was the first to leap to his feet, literally fuming at Ojiro. "I cannot understand at all that choice!"

Already Ojiro regretted not privately rejecting it later, but now it was time to defend his position. It had seemed a nice idea at first when Kirishima came up with it, a sign with his hero name written on it set above the inside of his doorway, but...

"It just seems a little... overt," subtlety was nice in design, as far as Ojiro was concerned. "I'm just not sure it's my style."

"Unacceptable!" With no regards for moderation of voice or thought of anyone else in the common room, Iida continued on, Kirishima and Aoyama both nodding in agreement. Oh boy, the triumvirate was against him here. "Do you not have _pride_ in your hero name, Ojiro? You should feel no shame in declaring it to the entire world, after all!"

"It's not shame," Ojiro shook his head, deflating already. The three of them hadn't agreed on anything as strongly as this, why did it have to be the one thing he wasn't into? "It just feels a bit overkill to have my hero name sitting right there. I have pride but... that's too much, isn't it?"

"Not at all!" Iida continued full-bore, barely pausing for breath. This was the most worked up he'd gotten since this began, somehow outpacing the sheer elation he'd shown when Ojiro had first asked him to help come up with ideas to improve his room. "You are a proud student of U.A High, and should be happy announcing the hero it is making you to the world!"

"Yeah man!" Kirishima finally joined in, given Iida now needed to actually focus on breathing heavily after his tirade, "You've gotta put yourself out there, right? 'Martial Arts Hero Tailman', wake up every morning and see that name, remember that's you. I can't think of anything better!"

"You cannot run from who you are," Aoyama nodded wisely, ignored by the other three.

As the three continued, one of the notes sitting on the desk rose up and began to float in the air. It took all four way too long to parse the reason behind that.

"I like the bookcase idea!" The voice of Hagakure Tooru floated through the air, the invisible girl having managed to sneak right into the group despite being fully clothed. That had to be cheating, Ojiro frowned. "You can fill it up with all kinds of things you like, and then anyone who looks at it will see!" Iida immediately agreed with her sense of design, somehow forgetting the part where Ojiro had asked him, Kirishima and Aoyama to keep the discussion quiet. He hadn't wanted to make a fuss.

Of course where Hagakure went there was always others, and soon enough Uraraka, Jirou and Yaoyorozu were adding in their ideas too. His voice basically drowned out by two or three of the group agreeing with each other at any one moment, things immediately escalated when Ashido arrived, figured out what was going on, and immediately announced they should all go to Ojiro's room to actually come up with ideas directly. The crowd moved and, without any say at all, Ojiro found himself dragged along. This was the worst.

"What sort of books do you like, Ojiro?" Hagakure's hand rested on his shoulder as the others poked about inside his room, five different conversations going on at once about what should go where. He looked over to her, thinking on that. If he had a bookcase, how would he fill it?

"Martial arts manuals, I guess?" He wasn't entirely sure, but if he had to pick something he'd chose those. They always made for good reading when he needed to relax. Hagakure pouted, although only she knew that.

"But what else?" There was a slight whine to her voice, annoyed at the answer as it was, "there has to be more than just that! Something that screams personality, come on!"

Jirou burst out of the doorway, one hand holding Kaminari – when had he arrived? – by the ear and the other hauling Aoyama along the ground. The words 'no disco balls' could be heard emerging from her as she dragged the two down the corridor. Ojiro and Hagakure watched until she bundled them into the lift and hit every button she could. That should keep them busy for a moment.

"Atlases?" He managed the suggestion, having thought on it. He liked looking at maps and imagining far away locations. The world was so vast and full of interesting things, after all.

"Good!" This time Hagakure literally jumped for joy, landing on the ground with her hands raised to the heavens. "We can put a great big map on your wall, where would you like to go?" Feeling his say already disappearing, Ojiro attempted to dial back Hagakure's naked ambition, but she was already in the room gathering the opinions of everyone there. They needed an exciting map!

Barely able to get inside the room as the others worked, Ojiro could only watch in despair as Kirishima emerged and dumped his bedding onto the ground, informing him that Yaoyorozu was making something 'way cooler' to cover his bed. This was getting out of hand fast.

Brief requests for a moment of sense, or peace so he could talk, were met with 'don't worry about it', or 'everything is under control', from whoever was in the doorway at the time. How did this many people fit in one room and work together so effectively? Truly, Class 1-A displayed the most impressive abilities of cooperation when united for one goal.

In the end almost everyone had managed a say. Hagakure had indeed gotten a map of the Amazon on his wall, Yaoyorozu had replaced his covers and curtains, as well as added a carpet – all themed to look like martial arts mats –, while Iida and Kirishima, with a little stylistic help from Ashido for the writing, had put a great big 'Tailman' sign up as they'd intended. Jirou arrived with a sound system to put on the desk while Uraraka had a sizable bookcase floating behind her. Perfect.

Each congratulated the other on a job well done, then offered their praise to Ojiro for how fine a room he'd gained himself. It had all gone by in such a rush that Ojiro had basically no chance to offer any words of his own. In twos and threes they departed, telling Ojiro to let them know if he had any more ideas. The lift dinged, again and again, and soon it was just Ojiro left, staring into the room that didn't feel like his at all. Now what...

Once more the lift dinged, and a loud roar and explosion echoed from out of it. Kaminari dived out, a hand reaching for where his head had just been, and scrambled right into his room, slamming the door shut. Seconds later an irate – though when was he ever not? – Bakugou was pounding his fist upon it.

"Get out here you little shit!" Of course Kaminari had managed to set him off, not that that was a difficult thing to do. But if they'd been in the same elevator then yeah, that was predictable. Ojiro looked over there, still half thinking of his room. Tch'ing as the door refused to yield, Bakugou turned and made eye contact directly with Ojiro, his face in its ever-present surly grin. "The fuck's with you?"

"Oh," he hadn't actually expected Bakugou to speak with him, they'd never really made much of conversation before. He turned his head, looking into the open room before him. "Just redecorating."

That should have been the end of it, but instead the heavy stomp of Bakugou approaching echoed along the corridor. Ojiro froze up as he felt the hair-trigger teen looking over his shoulder into the room. Did he seriously want to add his opinion too?

"Looks like shit."

Ojiro's shoulders slumped. Yep, that was about as much as he could have expected. What a surprise. "Who did this?" A follow-up question had not been in the cards though. He turned and looked at Bakugou, who wasn't making any form of eye contact, just looking into the room.

"Uhm, everyone." Ojiro hated to admit it, but he'd let his fellows run wild without any of his input going in. They'd really just gone with whatever they felt like. Bakugou made another noise of disapproval. Since when had he had a discerning eye for room design?

"Do it yourself next time." Bakugou stomped off again, slamming the buttons on the lift until the door opened then disappearing into it, leaving a slightly stunned Ojiro standing there in the entryway to his room. Had he just seriously gotten life advice from Bakugou Katsuki? What was this day?

But... Ojiro bent down and picked up the bedding that had been deposited outside, replaced with the version Yaoyorozu had made, and stepped inside, closing the door. Do it himself, huh... well, maybe...

* * *

The next time Hagakure came round to check on Ojiro's progress with his room, she collapsed into despair at the sight of it. It was exactly like it had been to begin with! A slightly embarrassed Ojiro rubbed the back of his head with his tail, and admitted that he just hadn't been able to feel comfortable with all the changes. He'd figure things out as time went along, that's all.

Not yet backing down, Hagakure vowed to come up with the best possible way to improve his room of all, and set off with determination written across her invisible face. She'd do this. She would.

With a smile and a sigh, Ojiro returned to his room and sat down in his chair. He'd come up with ideas in time, but for now normal was just fine by him. His tail wrapped around one of the weights he'd bought and began to lift.


End file.
